Monday, August 21, 2006

By request...books...

Book that changed your life.Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooksThis book introduced me to the idea that a person does not have to be invited to question or challenge. It also inspired a lifelong exploration into black female anger...of how too many black women fear the stereotype more than they fear being silent in the face of oppression. I did not feel the need to agree 100% with bell hooks...which was fantabulous...but I did hear her call to think and have a fucking opinion. Yeah, this book changed my life.

One book you have read more than once.I often read Common Sense by Thomas Paine. Color me nerdtastic, but it centers me. A bitch finds an examination of our birth helps illuminate what has been corrupted.

One book on a desert island.A notebook full of blank pages…and something to write with.

One book that made you laugh.Birth of a Nation by Aaron McGruder, Reginald Hudlin, Kyle Baker (Illustrator)

One book that made you cry.Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Linda Brent (Harriet Jacobs).

One book you wish you had written.Rancidity, emaciation and the shame of Cornell University: Why Ann Coulter should embrace the hermit life that is her destiny...by AngryBlackBitch (wink).

One book you wish had never been written.Oh no...not a single one. Everything happens for a reason.

bell hooks was THE pivotal point in me turning an intellectual corner way back in 1995. I am there with you. I did not fall in love with her at first I must admitt, but she did hold a mirror up to me, my community and my culture that was worth the second, third and fourth glance.